The Jaffe Briefing - February 3, 2022
WESTFIELD – Not long ago, the Lord & Taylor store here was holding crazy sales, as everything-must-go, go, go as part of a company-wide bankruptcy. And now the shuttered store quickly has a new, unexpected life – as a school for children with disabilities. The Home News Tribune says the two-floor department store, a bit of a local landmark, is now humming along as the temporary home for nearly 100 students from Lamberts Mill Academy and Hillcrest Academy South, at least until the end of the year. It was a creative solution. The school buildings flooded during Hurricane Ida, just when Lord & Taylor finished liquidating. And with gobs of available space, it has become the ideal place for social distancing and makeshift classrooms, as township officials now ponder if the building’s future may be in education.
LAKEWOOD – The local school district – a perennial hot mess that is drowning in hopeless debt – is welcoming its third state fiscal monitor to give things at whirl. Unclear who would want this thankless, high-profile job in Lakewood. But the district now has its third monitor in eight years, charged with figuring out how to improve educational quality in district that has somehow amassed more than $125 million in debt and famously pays its attorney more than $1 million per year. The Asbury Park Press says the former monitor – in the job since 2018 – is retiring from the post, with apparent relief, but will hang on as a paid consultant for the district, as the checks continue to get cut.
SOUTH JERSEY – What a great deal for Rep. Jeff Van Drew. Pay the $8,329.95 in room rental and catering expenses at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago in exchange for the former president’s endorsement, and a wheelbarrow of campaign cash. NJ.com reports the Democratic turncoat has been raking in the cash, raising $587,000 in the last quarter of 2021, with $71,661 coming from Florida donors, none of whom know the difference between Woolwich and Woolworth. “You have my total and complete endorsement,” Trump said, standing next to Van Drew. “It’s an honor to have you at Mar-a-Lago and we’re with you all the way.” Oh, my. The congressman now has $966,000 in his war chest, fueled by Trump supporters. You can bet his seat, in the Second Congressional District, would be a sweet win for Democrats. But the redistricting lines seem to be making it even more red, meaning two more years of Van Drew’s dizzying wardrobe.
BRIEFING BREATHER
President Coolidge thought it was hilarious to push the emergency buzzer on his desk and then hide when the Secret Service came running.
NEWARK – Ready for a big comeback? New Jersey Globe reports former Mayor Sharpe James – a convicted felon – may be angling for a City Council seat. James, the one-time flashy mayor who ended up behind bars for 18 months on fraud convictions, has picked up his nominating petitions to run for an at-large council seat in the non-partisan elections, to be held in May. James, now 85, had a 20-year run in the big seat, beginning in 1986. It is unclear if a convicted felon can serve in public office in Newark, but the former mayor remains popular and a bit of a local celebrity when he shows up at things. If James makes the run, all past transgressions will be quickly forgiven.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
CINCINNATI – In a city where Marge Schott displayed Nazi paraphernalia, Pete Rose bet on baseball games and the sports teams have wreaked worse than month-old bratwurst, the Bengals’ unlikely appearance in Super Bowl LVI presents a rare moment of civic pride. The city is so swept up in Bengalsmania that it has announced that all public schools will be closed the day after the Feb. 14 big game. School districts in the surrounding suburbs are jumping on the bandwagon with both feet, the Cincinnati Enquirer breathlessly reports. School superintendents from Sycamore to Loveland to Finneytown released a hokey video on Tuesday declaring their schools’ closings a “Snow-Dey,'' a play on the Bengals’ adopted battle cry of “Who Dey?” If it seems all of southern Ohio is losing its collective mind over this team, you have to remember it was referred to as “The Bungals” before ending a 31-year playoff-victory drought.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1993 that former Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott is suspended for one year and fined $25,000 for her chronic “use of racially and ethnically insensitive language.”
WORD OF THE DAY
Bona fides – [boh-nuh-FYE-deez] – noun
Definition: Evidence of qualifications or achievements.
Example: Perhaps political bloggers would have more credibility if they showed their bona fides.
WIT OF THE DAY
“When the president of the United States says, ‘This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated,’ it's because him and his constituents, which, I don't know how there are any if you watch any of his attempts at public speaking, but I guess he got 81 million votes. But when you say stuff like that, and then you have the CDC, which, how do you even trust them, but then they come out and talk about 75% of the COVID deaths have at least four comorbidities. And you still have this fake White House set saying that this is the pandemic of the unvaccinated, that's not helping the conversation.”
-Aaron Rodgers
BIDEN BLURB
“There is no excuse for anyone being unvaccinated. This continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
-Joe Biden
WEATHER IN A WORD
Dreary